Can Drinkable Breakfasts Save the Cereal Industry?

Americans may be gulping down less bowls Corn Flakes and Cheerios, but Kellogg (NYSE:K) and General Mills (NYSE:GIS) have plans to recapture the nation’s busiest breakfasters with a new meal option.

Breakfast drinks are set to launch in the near future, and both Kellogg and General Mills are hoping to offset their declining cereal sales in the United States with a bet that consumers will want to drink their breakfasts.

Taking a look at results of the 52-week period ending on September 9 of last year, Chicago-based market research firm SymphonyIRI Group calculated that industry-wide cereal sales, in terms of dollars, dropped 1 percent, while sales on a unit basis fell more than 4 percent. Numbers like these have prompted both cereal companies to transform their breakfast offerings and rethink their product lines.

At an industry conference on Wednesday, Kellogg’s Chief Executive Officer John Bryant said that the company has plans to redefine cereal with its “Breakfast To Go,” reported The Associated Press. This milk-based drink will hit national markets sometime later this year.

The day before, General Mills made a similar announcement, stated the publication, but its breakfast alternative is still in the testing phase. The product, giving a nod to the speed with which it can be ingested, has been named “BFAST,” and the dairy-based beverage combines whole grains with the nutritional value of a bowl of cereal and milk…